Little Man
by mycookiegirl
Summary: Ponyboy always wanted to know what it would be like to be a big brother. Now he finally has a chance.
1. Chapter 1

**I do not own The Outsiders. S.E. Hinton does :)**

There was hardly anybody in the movie house today. Not that I cared; I don't like it much when there's a lot of people filling up the movie house. I can't concentrate properly; not when people are mumbling and constantly moving around. It's worse when there are babies; they just scream the place down and their parents can't be bothered taking them out to comfort them.

It's been a little over three months since my parents died, leaving my oldest brother, Darrel, to take care of me and my other brother, Sodapop.

Don't get me wrong, I love living with my big brothers and I'm glad that I have them, but it sometimes gets a little bit boring being the only _little_ kid around. That's what Steve Randle calls me: a little kid, a tag-along, and all sorts of other names that I can't be bothered saying because I'll probably make myself fall asleep by the time I'm done with the long, long list.

Even before mom and dad died, I really just wanted a little brother. Sometimes in bed, I ask Soda what it's like having a little brother, and he tells me that it's great. I asked Darry once too, but he got annoyed because I was 'distracting' him from paying the bills.

I mean, I am thirteen years old, so I'm certainly not an adult, but I ain't no baby either. Soda's not even an adult, yet Darry treats him a lot older than how he treats me, and it's _very_ annoying. I'm not saying Darry chooses favorites, 'cause as Soda says, I am the baby of the family, but he doesn't treat me an' Soda _equally_ either.

I could ramble on all day about how my life's unfair, but I'll save it all for later.

As I walked on home from the movie house, I noticed a light skinned lady with long curly blond hair on her knees by some grocery store. As I edged a little closer to her, I noticed that she was talking to someone, a child.

After the lady was done with her conversation, she stood up, brushed the dirt of her knees, and then got into some car where a guy was waiting for her. The car drove off, leaving the mysterious kid just sitting there.

I dropped down beside the kid, and immediately noticed that the child was a boy. He only looked about eight or nine years old, judging by his face. His height however, would trick you into believing that he was under the age of six.

His hair was blond, but it wasn't the same color as the woman's who he had been talking to. The little boy's hair was honey blond, while the woman's was bright blond, almost the same color as Dallas's.

His eyes were wide, and for a second he reminded me of Johnny Cade; he had the kicked puppy expression. But I quickly forgot about Johnny and focused my attention on the little boy.

"Hey little guy, what's your name?" I asked gently, not wanting to scare him.

The boy fiddled with his shirt for a moment before opening his mouth.

"Ethan." was his response. I smiled; the kid sounded younger than a six year old aswell.

"Well hi, Ethan. I'm Ponyboy." I said, and stuck my hand out.

Ethan looked up at me, shocked.

"That can't be your real name." he stated, his eyes getting bigger.

"My dad named me. Did your daddy name you?" I questioned innocently.

Ethan shrugged, and pain was evident in his voice.

"I don't think so; daddy died before he even knew about me. That's what my mom told me." His voice turned from sad to angry when he mentioned his mom.

"Don't you like your mom?" I said, placing my hands on my knees.

"She left me when I was eight, so then I got put in a home for naughty boys." He said coldly, and I felt my blood turn cold.

He was put in a boys' home? Why's he here then?

"April fostered me, but I don't think she liked me very much. Then Mr and Mrs Farm fostered me, but I didn't like them and they didn't like me; they had a boy called Tony who used to fight with me all the time. Now I live with Ashleigh, but she always goes out with her boyfriend, so I'm always alone." He explained, though he didn't sound sad at all.

"That's a shame." I responded truthfully, because I honestly didn't know what else to say.

"I don't really like Ashleigh's boyfriend; he hits me when Ashleigh's gone outside to have a joint, whatever that means." Ethan told me, and even though it was horrible that his foster mom's boyfriend hit him, I couldn't help but smile at how innocent he was. He didn't know what a joint was, how cute.

"How old are you?" I asked, trying to change the subject.

"Nine." He answered, as if it was obvious.

"Tuff. I'm thirteen." I smiled.

"You look younger." He stated, and I chuckled.

"So do you." I replied, earning a blush from Ethan.

"A lot of people say that. A lot of the boys in the old home called me shorty, and a lot of the visitors treated me like Daniel." He rambled, and I gave him a confused look. "Oh yeah, you don't know who Daniel is. Daniel was only five, but his mom and dad were put in jail so he had to go to the bad home, even though he didn't do anything wrong. I wasn't bad either, but I guess that's just the way it is. That's what mom used to say anyway." He said.

Well, we both had some things in common; we were usually treated younger than our age, and we didn't live with our parents. Though the difference was – I was living with my brothers; my family whom I had known for years, while Ethan was living with complete strangers. And also, my parents had loved me before they left, whereas it sounded as if Ethan's mom didn't give a damn about him, and his dad had died before he even knew that he was going to be a father.

Or maybe, that was just a story that Ethan's mom had told him. Only Ethan's mom will know if that's true, and I didn't know who the hell she was.

"Do you have any friends?" I asked, wiping my forehead.

Ethan thought for a moment, and then spoke.

"No; everybody in my class picks on me because I'm small." He said.

"Oh." I replied, giving him a sympathetic look.

"Some of the second graders are taller than me, and some of them say mean things to me. One time, the boys in my grade got me in a circle and started pushing me around, and then I fell and scraped my knee and they all laughed at me." Ethan blubbered, rubbing his bloodshot eyes.

"Am sorry to hear that." I pitied, and I truly meant it.

"Thanks." He responded, giving me a weak smile.

"Well, I need to get goin'. I'll see you around." I said, standing up and brushing my jeans with my hands.

Ethan stayed sitting there, making no move to get up.

"Ashleigh told me I need to wait for her to get back. She'll be back soon." He babbled, and even though I could tell he was lying, I wasn't about to call him out on it.

"Okay then. Bye Ethan." I grinned, and began walking away before I felt a hand grab my foot.

I looked down at Ethan who was looking up at me with wide eyes.

"I like it better when people call me little man; it's what nice people call me." Ethan said.

"Okay then. I'll see ya around, little man." I said, because I guess I'm just a nice person in general.

 **AN: Hey guys, so this is another story that I'll be continuing. If you're enjoying** _ **One Marvellous Adventure**_ **, don't worry; I'm not giving up on it! I just came up with this idea and decided to use it. Honestly, I'm not usually a fan of OCs; I generally dislike sister fics, only because I wish there were more OC brother fics out there. If there are any good OC Curtis brother fics out there, please suggest them to me! Other than that, I hope you enjoy the story.  
Also, this is my first time on this site writing from first person…was I okay?**


	2. Chapter 2

**I do not own The Outsiders. S.E. Hinton does :)**

 _ **This chapter is written from Ethan's perspective :)**_

The boy who I met today, Ponyboy, was real nice…and cocky, if that's the word.

Unfortunately after he left, I had to wait three hours before Ashleigh and Lonnie got back from their date. I was happy to see Ashleigh, not so much Lonnie though.

Ashleigh got out of the car and lifted me up and kissed me on my forehead. She's 25 years old, but claims that she's old enough to be a mommy. I don't think she'd be very good at looking after a baby, mainly because she's always out with Lonnie. It doesn't bother me though; I can take care of myself, even if I do look like a little kid.

Ashleigh already has a husband: his name's Leo and he is technically my foster dad. She wouldn't have been able to foster me if she wasn't married, which I think is stupid, but I guess I can't complain.

Leo and Ashleigh don't date, but they decided not to get divorced simply because it was too complicated. At least I can stay with Ashleigh and not be stuck at the home.

I hated the boys' home so much; everybody there deserved to be there, except for me and little Daniel of course.

Thankfully, there was a boy there called Nicholas and he was the tallest and oldest boy there, and he was nice to me and scared the other boys off.

Nicholas always called me 'Little man', so I guess that's why I like the nickname so much.

When I lived with April however, I never saw Nicholas, Daniel, or any of the other boys again. I had to move schools too, and everybody was mean to me.

I told April about the kids at school, but she just told me to 'grow a pair', whatever that means.

April was tall and pale, with long black hair and she had dark brown, almost black, eyes. She didn't want me; the only reason she had agreed to foster me was because she got paid.

I told my social worker, Paulina, about how April mistreated me, and thankfully she got me moved.

Mr and Mrs Farm were nice people, and I really grew to like them. The only problem was their son: Tony.

Tony was a year younger than me, but considering I'm short for my age, he towered over me. He was only eight, but he could punch like a twenty year old, not like I know how one punches.

He got me into trouble too; he'd do something bad and then blame it on me!

Mr and Mrs Farm basically worshipped Tony, so of course they always believed him. They punished me when 'I'd been bad', however they were always nice to me afterwards. They told me there was a difference between punishing and just plain hitting, and I'm glad they taught me that, even if it did hurt _a lot_ sometimes.

However, they punished me when I didn't need punishing; it was Tony who needed punishing, and I wished that I could have gotten through to them about how evil Tony was, but they would never believe me and told me in much lighter words to stop being jealous.

It was because of their ignorance that I ended up being moved again.

Tony had taken an interest to the bookshelf which stood in the living room. Mr and Mrs Farm were outside in the garden, leaving me and Tony inside.

"Hey shorty, I bet that you can't get that book up there." He snickered, pointing to the top of the bookshelf.

"Of course not, even an idiot could figure that out, Bony." I replied snidely. Tony's face turned red; he hated being called Bony.

I only called him Bony because Tony was very skinny, however Mrs Farm told me that it was a naughty word. I didn't know what naughty word sounded like 'Bony', but I made sure that I didn't say it around her or Mr Farm.

"Don't talk back." He ordered, stomping towards me.

I backed away, but Tony got closer to me. I was scared; Tony liked to hurt me when his parents weren't in the room.

He grabbed my arm and pinched it hard. I squealed and knocked into the bookshelf, making the big book on the top shelf fall down onto the floor.

"You're in trouble." Tony sang, skipping off to go and find his parents.

"No!" I shouted and jumped on his back.

Tony easily got me off and pinched me again, but this time _his_ back was facing towards the bookshelf. I clawed his hand off my arm and pushed him. It was quite light, but Tony still stumbled backwards.

He tripped and fell back into the bookshelf, and the whole thing came tumbling down, taking Tony with it.

I screamed and ran to find Mr and Mrs Farm. They instantly came running inside and Mrs Farm went to phone an ambulance while Mr Farm worked on lifting the bookshelf off of Tony.

Tony was unconscious, but thankfully he was still breathing.

When Tony got out of hospital four days later, I was taken back to a different boys' home, all because Tony said that the whole thing was my fault. I told them my version of the story, but the bruises had faded by then, leaving me without evidence.

I hated this boys' home; nobody understood me. Though they were a lot nicer than the boys from the other boys' home (except for Nicholas), they all treated me like I was three instead of eight, and I hated it a lot. The workers there did too, and it was horrible feeling unequal to everybody around me.

Six months down the line, Ashleigh and Leo fostered me. As soon as I was taken to my new home, Leo left to stay with his mom.

Though I wasn't meant to, I liked sleeping with Ashleigh because I felt safe. I can't sleep in her bed if Lonnie's staying over, which is awful, but when he's gone I climb into her bed immediately and she cuddles me.

I don't tell her about what Lonnie does to me. Nobody knows the full story, not even my new friend, Ponyboy.

All's Ponyboy knows is that Lonnie hits me, which he does, but it's the things he says. He likes to burn me too, sometimes with cigarettes and cigars, other times it'll just be from a lighter.

When Ashleigh goes out, she tells him that he can invite a few friends over, and it's even worse then.

They _all_ shout stuff at me, they _all_ burn me, and they _all_ hit me. And it's horrible.

My new social worker, Harold, doesn't know about it either; Lonnie told me that if I told anyone then he'd kill me and then kill Ashleigh, and it would all be my fault.

Sometimes I wondered through all of this if my daddy was telling God to go easy on me, that I was just a little boy. But not even daddy can stop some of the stuff that goes on, and I guess God can't either.

My real mom told me that daddy died from a tumor before I was born, whatever that means. She told me that he was the only man she ever loved, and she wasn't sure if she'd be able to love another man again.

I used to love sitting beside mom, listening to the stories she told me about my daddy. He was a soldier in World War 2, and if I was lucky she'd get out a box of photographs and show me him in his uniform. Then she'd show me pictures of them at their wedding, but we wouldn't be able to carry on because she'd always start crying.

One thing that everybody who I've lived with has said though: they have all said, "I love you." Even April said it, but only once.

Mom used to say "I love you" all the time to me, whatever that means.

 **So here you get a glimpse of Ethan's life, I hoped you enjoyed it! Anyway, poor Ethan doesn't know the meaning of love :( Please review; it'd mean the world to me :) If you are enjoying it, I'll be updating it soon (hopefully tonight), as well as One Marvellous Adventure :D**


	3. Chapter 3

**I do not own The Outsiders. S.E. Hinton does :)**

 _ **Back to Pony's perspective :)**_

The hallways were crowded as usual today, but the noise was louder than usual. There was probably a fight or something going on; our school was known for its fights.

I found Two-Bit walking outside, probably to have a smoke or to cut last period. I quickly ran to him and grabbed his arm, making him whirl around and try to hit me in defence.

"Whoa, you actually scared me. Me!" he shouted, and grabbed me in a headlock.

I squirmed out of his grip but carried on clutching his arm.

"Uh…Pony?" he said, cocking an eyebrow.

"You cutting?" I asked. Two-Bit nodded slowly.

"I'd take you with me, but Superman would kill me." He stated, biting his lip.

There it is again: everybody treating me like a little kid! I'm pretty sure I can make my own decisions.

"Darry's not my dad." I shot at him, hoping it would work. "Besides, you're doing it."

Two-Bit lit up a cigarette even though we were still inside school.

"Yeah, but he's in-charge of you…and he's not in-charge of me so I won't get in trouble." he explained.

"Exactly, _you_ won't get into trouble; _I_ will. So you have nothing to worry about." I said, and he shifted around nervously, thinking for a moment.

"No." he replied finally. "I have nothing to do with it. You go if you want to, but you ain't comin' with me; it's your responsibility, if Darry skins ya then it's your own fault." He muttered before placing his cigarette in his mouth again and pacing out of the building.

Secretly, I beamed; he wasn't carrying on at me, he was just letting me go. I know that if it was Steve Randle, he would have probably tried to convince me not to go until he'd finally decide to just tell Soda or Darry. Two-Bit wasn't like that; he ain't no snitch and he never has been.

I skipped out of the school and down the steps, earning a few confused glances from the kids who were spending their free periods outside.

Since I wasn't sure where to go without people getting suspicious, I decided to just take a walk.

As if by fate, I saw the same black car from yesterday parked at the side of the road, and noticed a familiar little boy with blond hair outside of the same grocery store where he was yesterday, only this time he wasn't with a light skinned blond woman, instead he was with a big bulky guy who was only a little shorter than Darry.

The bulky guy talked to Ethan before storming back off to his car. He casted Ethan one last glance out of the window, and then drove off.

I loped over to Ethan who was sitting at the side of the store. When he heard my footsteps, his head shot up, however he sighed in relief when he saw that it was just me.

"Hey, little man, why aren't you in school?" I asked, remembering to call him by the nickname that he liked.

"Why aren't you?" he snapped, and a frown formed on his forehead.

I held my hands up in surrender.

"I just decided to leave because I wanted to see you." I lied, hoping it would make him feel better.

"I know you're lying; nobody ever wants to see me. So you can just shove off." he spat, and I was shocked; where did the cute little boy go from yesterday?

"Sorry for being concerned." I muttered, and tears filled the little boy's eyes.

"I'm so sorry; I always do that, everybody says that I'm a brat with a temper because I always shout at people. Please don't hate me!" he begged, and I smiled at him.

"Hey, we all have our days. I'll never hate you; you're my little man! Why are you in such a bad mood anyway?" I questioned, resting my chin on my hand.

"When Ashleigh dropped me off at school, Lonnie was waiting and told me that I wasn't allowed to go. He even called my school up to tell them that I wasn't going. It's because we have sports today, and Lonnie hit me and he doesn't want the teachers to see." He sighed, but clamped his mouth shut as soon as he'd realized that he had told me.

"Don't worry; I'm not gonna tell anyone; I have nobody to tell." I assured him, though I really wanted to kill this Lonnie guy.

"No, Lonnie says if I tell anybody then…never mind." He said, and his cute face started to pale.

"I pinkie promise you that I won't tell anybody." I told him, and we hooked pinkies. Ethan smiled slightly; maybe he hadn't ever had a friend to pinkie swear with.

"Hey…since I'm your only friend here…maybe I could introduce you to some of my other friends." I exclaimed, giving Ethan a big smile.

"Really? Are they nice?" he asked, obviously interested.

"Mostly." I answered honestly, knowing that I couldn't speak for everybody.

"I'd like to meet them, then." Ethan declared, smiling up at me. I noticed that his front tooth was missing, and it made him look even more adorable.

"I'll come take you to see them later, yeah?" I bargained, and Ethan nodded.

"Okay." He sang.

I noticed a few kids around my age walking towards me, and I realized that school must have ended. The kids were socs which I meant that they were probably looking to fight me, so I knew I had to get out of there fast.

"Okay Ethan, I'm gonna head home. Can I meet you here at about 5 pm?" I asked him, keeping an eye on the socs.

"Sure." He said, smiling.

"Great! I'll see ya then!" I chirped, and got up quickly. I ran down the street before Ethan could get up, though now that I look back…I really wished I would have stayed with Ethan a little longer.

I always thought that socs weren't heartless enough to hurt a kid. A _little_ kid, like Ethan.

I guess I was wrong.

 **Hey guys! I'm so sorry I haven't updated in a few days! I started writing this chapter a few days ago, but I've been really sick for the past few days. I'll be updating tomorrow though; because let's be honest…cliff-hangers annoy the hell out of everyone, especially if the story isn't finished! Stay Gold everybody :)**


	4. Chapter 4

**I do not own The Outsiders. S.E. Hinton does :)**

 _ **Ethan's perspective**_

Ponyboy took off running without saying another word. Not that I cared; most people didn't stick around me much anyway. However, I was excited when he told me that he'd introduce me to some of his friends!

A few fine dressed boys who looked a little older than Ponyboy strolled down the street and stopped in front of me. I looked up at them, and they stared back down at me, and I felt my gut sink; these guys were intimidating.

One of them who had short brown curly hair snarled at me, revealing his white sharp teeth. He reminded me a little of Lonnie; Lonnie always snarled at me.

"Were you talking to a _greaser_?" he spat, glaring down at me.

"What's a greaser?" I squeaked, and a few of the boys around him snickered.

"I think he's a greaser, Harold. He has an attitude, that's for sure. You should teach him a lesson." One with red hair commented, and I stared up at him, confused. What attitude was he talking about?

"Nah, now that's a little mean, and it's sure to get us locked up. As soon as a little kid or a girl's involved, the fuzz actually decide to get involved. There's no point in going to jail now." A new one with dark straight hair added. Was he sticking up for me?

"Yeah…but not when it's a greaser. The fuzz will probably thank us if we get rid of it before it grows." The curly haired boy, Harold, growled.

"I really need to go. My mom's probably looking for me." I lied, hoping they would leave me alone. I quickly got up, but the red haired guy pushed me back down.

"Guys…" the guy with dark straight hair started. "Let me handle this." He said, and crouched down to my level. I was shaking; who were these guys and what did they want?

"Hey, little guy, what's your name?" he asked sweetly. I just stared at him with wide eyes, not trusting him. "Come on, it's okay, I ain't gonna bite." I breathed out deeply before answering him.

"Ethan." I answered. He smiled.

"Well, it's nice to meet you, Ethan." He greeted. I didn't know why, but this guy just didn't seem right. He didn't seem like Ponyboy who I now trusted a lot…I didn't trust this guy at all.

"My name's Tommy, and these are all my friends." He said, motioning towards the other boys. They all looked down at me. I didn't say anything to his friends; not when they had just treated me like that.

"You know, they were only trying to help. That boy, Ponyboy, he's really bad. He hangs out with a group of guys, greasers, and all's they do is beat people up and steal their money. You're just a little boy; you don't need to be hanging out with boys like that." Tommy stated, and I pulled a face at him; he was treating me like Daniel.

"I'm not little, I can think for myself." I answered confidently, which only made Tommy treat me like a little boy even more.

"Of course you are; you're a big boy." He cooed, and I wanted to kick him; that's what everyone who treats you like a little kid says: 'You're a big boy'. But nobody could fool me.

"Listen…we used to be friends with that kid. He's not nice at all: he used to fight with us all the time, and he and his friends jumped one of our friends." Tommy told me. Ponyboy didn't seem the type of person to fight with people, so I turned away from the boys.

"You're lying." I said, and Tommy laughed.

"Whatever you say, but don't start crying when Ponyboy hurts you. You should hang out with better people, like us." He stated, and I glared at him.

"You were mean before." I snarled, and Tommy shrugged.

"Because we thought you were like Ponyboy. But you're really just a little boy, so you couldn't hurt us." He laughed.

"I'm not _little_!" I shouted.

"Of course not." Tommy chuckled. "How old are you? Six?"

I felt my cheeks burning; did he really think that I was just a little six year old? Not like I cared what he thought anyway. But still…six?

"No." I spat.

"Greasers are nothing but trash. Look at what one of Ponyboy's friends did to me." Harold said, revealing his bruised arm. "I think it was Dallas who did it, and he and Ponyboy hang out all the time. They just hurt people for fun." He said, and I actually started to believe them.

"One of our friends was put in hospital because another guy who Ponyboy hangs around with beat him up real bad." The red haired one added.

I felt tears coming to my eyes. So Ponyboy had lied to me all this time? Did he only want to show me to his friends so they could hurt me?

"But he seemed so nice…" I croaked.

"They all do. Then…they kill you." Harold scoffed, wringing his neck like he was about to choke himself. He made a spluttering noise, and then glared at me.

"He's just a greaser. It doesn't matter though, as long as there's nice boys like us in the world." Tommy smiled, but I didn't smile back.

I don't what came over me, but I found myself violently shoving Tommy, making him fall backwards onto the sidewalk. He didn't break anything, but it did give him a nasty gash on the back of his head. It wasn't like I meant it; I was just upset.

Tommy sat up and looked at me, clutching the back of his head with his hand. He quickly got to his feet and ran away.

The red haired boy (whose name I still didn't know) and Harold glared down at me with hatred. I knew that they hated me anyway, but they really didn't look happy now.

"What the hell?" Harold screamed, grabbing me from under my arms and lifting me up so that I was face-to-face with him. Considering I was small for my age, and Harold was quite tall, there was a big drop to the sidewalk. I gulped and stared at him pleadingly.

There wasn't time for him to give me a punch before I heard a loud voice behind me.

"Put the kid down, _soc_." The voice ordered. Harold snickered.

"Why I should I, _greaser_?" he laughed, making me shake slightly.

"He ain't big enough to take two socs like you. That's unfair, and I thought socs always played by the rules." The voice said again. What was all this soc and greaser talk?

"It's not like you play by the rules, Shepard. I'm sure we could break them, just this once." The red-haired _soc_ said.

"Shut up, Monty." A new voice yelled. "Just put the kid down."

"Have it your way." Harold laughed, and dropped me.

I landed on my back, and I was sure it was broken, until I felt somebody hauling me to my feet.

"Get outta here, kid." The boy said. He had thick curly hair, and the boy beside him had a very large scar. They both looked very similar, except the one who was talking to me was smaller than the other guy.

I quickly obeyed and started running back to Ashleigh's house, despite my back's protests. But then I remembered that Lonnie told me not to come back tonight; he said him and Ashleigh needed some alone time.

So instead I just started walking, but I didn't know where I was going. I wanted to go to Ponyboy, but then remembered Harold's words:

" _They all do. Then…they kill you_." He was referring to greasers, and I had learnt that Ponyboy was a greaser. The other two greasers from before saved me, but when I turned back, I saw them beating Harold and Monty, and the damage they were doing was pretty bad.

Maybe the socs were right. Maybe all greasers are the same.

 **I'm sorry I haven't updated this for a few days, but I was honestly stuck on how to continue. I started writing it a few days ago, but I just got stuck! I would be obliged if anybody could suggest chapter ideas for Little Man and One Marvellous Adventure, because I'm getting stuck! Stay Gold :)**


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